CRI Blog

Carpet cleaning and maintenance are important topics on our blog for a number of reasons, not the least of which is because keeping carpet clean and well-maintained allows it to last longer and thereby maximize your investment in your home or office.

Here is a case in point: Sometimes poorly-executed maintenance shows up as something called “cornrows” in your carpet.

If you have never seen carpet cornrows, that is most likely a good thing, but knowing how to prevent them is a key to having beautiful carpet over the long term.

According to an article published on the website, Wall to Wall Carpet Resources, one of the main reasons carpet cornrows pop up is because of aggressive vacuuming with the brush set too low. Other preventable reasons for cornrowing are doors being too low and constantly rubbing on carpet, infrequent vacuuming, and/or always vacuuming in the same direction.

Monitoring how you vacuum and the height of your vacuum’s bristles are the best ways to prevent cornrowing.

These reasons for cornrowing can easily be avoided, but sometimes cornrows are present for another reason. CRI has long held that cornrowing is not a manufacturer-related defect, but installation is a possible reason for cornrows in your carpet.

If carpet is not stretched enough over the flooring in the process of installation, the loose carpet can become cornrowed over time. Another possible cause is having a carpet pad or cushion that is too hard or too soft. The carpet pad should have a density between 6-8 pounds and should not be thicker than 7/16ths of an inch.

If the carpet is developing cornrows because of poor installation, the only course of action is to regularly rake with a carpet rake, which can be purchased from most home improvement or hardware stores. Raking the carpet will help to de-cornrow the carpet and give it a natural look.

Here is a look back at the history of carpet, but not just any history: Ancient History.

Carpet has been around for centuries and the specific origin has never been verified, but it is known that the floor covering has been used in ancient times, including in the Persian and some Oriental cultures.

The Pazyryk Carpet is the oldest known carpet on earth and it has been dated back to the 5th Century B.C.

It was discovered in the tomb of a Scythian prince in the Pazyryk Valley of Siberia by Russian archaeologist Sergei Rudenko in the late 1940s. Rudenko believed that the carpet he discovered was a part of the Achaemenid Empire, but mystery still surrounds the exact source of the rug.

Historians say that the carpet survived because the gravesite was robbed and left open, which turned the carpet into a block of ice and preserved until it was discovered by Rudenko’s team over sixty years ago.

Despite the fact that it is over 2500 years old, the carpet exhibits a level of sophistication in its craftsmanship that wasn’t thought to be possible by modern historians because most woven carpets and rugs from the same time period are from a more primitive construction.

The most interesting part of the historic carpet is not simply that it survived 25 centuries, but that it tells a story of the Scythian people. The Scythians were known as excellent horsemen with an empire ranging from Eastern Europe to Western Asia. The images woven in the carpet are of griffins, deer and riders on horseback.

More than likely, the Pazyryk Carpet was a prized possession and even though vacuums were over a millennia away from being invented, the carpet was well taken care of.

At CRI, we are always encouraging people to take care of their carpet for many reasons, especially for the longevity. Now we don’t promise that maintaining your carpet will keep it around for 2500 years, but that it will be a strong aspect of your indoor environment that keeps your feet comfortable and your air clean.